Butterflies
by weirdgirl42
Summary: Based off a tumblr prompter who wanted captured May and angst.


_Disclaimer: I own nothing. _

**Butterflies**

"You know for all the talk I heard about the "Cavalry" from Garret and Ward, I definitely expected you to be more of a challenge."

May stared back at Ian Quinn, subconsciously tugging on the restraints that held her in place. A part of her was furious at herself for being taken. The mission had been open and closed, the team rescued four SHIELD scientists who'd been held captive by some Hydra loyalists in Morocco. All four had been extracted without injury and Coulson was debriefing them in the Bus. May and Trip were escorting the Hydra agents to the separate plane which would take them to the Fridge when everything went sideways, literally. May's body was flung into the air and into a passing helicopter as though by magic.

Magic, it turned out, in the shape of some sort of gravatonium gun Quinn and Raina had designed. The weapon brought her to the helicopter, whatever they'd injected her with had rendered her just immobile enough to be unable to fight back.

That had been almost four days ago.

They kept her slightly sedated at all times. Not enough to knock her out completely, but enough to make her movements sluggish. At first there were questions. Where were the SHIELD strongholds? Where was Nick Fury? What were the access codes to Stark's new headquarters? Where was Skye? She'd stared back blankly at them for nearly forty-eight hours before the questions finally stopped and the pain began.

She'd lost count of how many bones they'd broken. It was at least three ribs and her left arm, possibly her wrist and cheek as well, it was hard to tell for sure. Quinn stood at the back of the room the entire time, watching his goons dole out punishment. May knew he would never dirty his own hands, but that he probably saw all of this as payback for what she'd done to him after Skye. Every once in a while Raina would come in and hook up some IV fluids and nutrients to make sure she didn't die.

"I really don't understand why you're fighting this," Quinn continued. "With SHIELD decimated and leaderless, how long do you think they can run anyway."

May spit some blood out of her mouth. "What makes you think we're leaderless?" It was the first words she'd spoken since being captured and it obviously took Quinn by surprise.

"Well," he replied, "with Fury dead and Coulson dead and you…well you're in no position to lead anyone at this point, how do you expect the mighty SHIELD to recover?"

The words knocked the wind out of her. She was floating outside of herself and none of the pain of the last four days compared to the way she hurt now.

"Oh," Quinn said as he studied her face, "didn't Raina tell you. I thought she would have, she's such a softie."

May was making a conscious effort to keep breathing. It couldn't be true.

"I'm afraid so," Quinn continued, motioning for his goons to leave the room. "As soon as we had you on board we blew that plane you're all so fond of. Coulson wasn't much use to us anymore anyway. From what I understand, he was probably headed the way of Garrett soon anyway."

She felt bile in the back of her throat, mixing with blood from her obvious internal injuries.

"So you see," Quinn said. "You might as well tell us what we want to know. Because you and I both know that without Coulson, you've got nowhere to go back to anyway."

May said nothing, she just stared back at him.

"Fine," Quinn sighed, "have it your way." He knocked on the door leading out of the room and the two men came back in.

They beat on her some more, but May floated above it all. Nothing mattered anymore.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Tell me you've got something Stark," Maria Hill said into her cell phone. She was pacing back and forth in front of her desk at Stark Tower. May had been gone for almost six days now and everyone was starting to get desperate.

"I've got something," came the reply. "Jarvis found an energy signature that matches the one from where Agent May was taken. It could only be caused by the gravatonium."

"I knew if we waited long enough he'd use that damn gun again," Hill said. "I just hope it wasn't too long."

XXXXXXXXXX

The world exploded around her. There was light and darkness and heat and then she was so cold she thought she'd never stop shivering.

She thought of Coulson. Of one of their first missions together. They'd been in Ningbo, China tracking down a possible 0-8-4. The lead had been a bust and they found themselves with a couple of hours to kill. Coulson had insisted they. He'd never been to China before and thought that they should at least look around a little. She'd only known him for a couple of months but his infectious enthusiasm had quickly won her over. So they'd driven around in the jeep for a while, finding themselves at last at the Liang Shanbo Temple.

_"It's a folktale," May explained as they stared up at the statue of two figures who seemed to be sprouting wings._

_"Do you know it?" Coulson asked._

_"Of course."_

_Coulson waited. If he'd learned anything in the past couple of months it was that you couldn't force Melinda May to speak, you just had to wait._

_"Zhu Yingtai is a young woman who dresses like a boy so she can go to school. She meets a boy, Liang Shanbom and falls in love with him but he doesn't know she's a woman no matter how many hints she drops."_

_"I hear the word 'typical' in your voice," Coulson said._

_May rolled her eyes but continued to speak. "Zhu Yingtai is eventually called home and asks Liang Shanbom to come back and marry her 'sister' though she really means her."_

_"Of course."_

_"When Liang Shanbom does come back he realizes that Zhu Yingtai is a woman but she's already been promised to another man by her family. Liang Shanbom dies of a broken heart."_

_"Well he shouldn't have been so dense about it," Coulson said, grinning._

_May looked over at him and crossed her arms, "Do you want to hear the rest or not?"_

_"I'm sorry. Please continue."_

_May sighed and looked back to the statue. "On the day of her wedding, Zhu Yingtai goes to Liang Shanbom's grave to say goodbye and begs the grave to open to take her too. The grave opens and she jumps into it."_

_"It's Romeo and Juliet," Coulson said quietly._

_"Yes but when Zhu Yingtai jumps into the grave, her and Liang Shanbom's spirits are turned into butterflies and they fly away together."_

_They stood side by side staring up at the statue and the temple for a while longer._

_"I'm glad they assigned us together May," Coulson said at last._

_May said nothing, but she agreed._

Now her arms were floating free from the cuffs and she was flying. No not flying, rolling. She was rolling on her back and the light made her blink. Voices swirled around and hands touched her face.

"Please," May whispered, flashing back to a wooden shack in the desert, "please let me die."

XXXXXXXXXX

It was the smell of bleach that woke her next. May opened her eyes and the whole world was white. But then she blinked a few times and realized it wasn't the world, just the walls that were white. The blanket wrapped around her legs was blue, the cast on her arm was red, and Simmons' sweater was polka dotted.

"Oh thank goodness," Simmons said when she realized May's eyes were open.

"How…long?" May rasped. Simmons held a straw to her lips and told her to sip slowly.

"It's been ten days since Morocco," the young doctor answered. "You've been unconscious nearly four."

"How bad?"

"Four broken ribs, two more bruised. Your left radius is broken in two places and your left wrist is badly sprained. Your skull was fractured as was your right zygomatic. Your spleen was damaged beyond repair so they had to remove it. I'm afraid you're going to be sidelined for quite some time."

May nodded. She felt numb, and she knew it wasn't just from the pain killers.

"But on the bright side," Simmons was saying, though her voice seemed very far away, "I know Fitz will be grateful to have a PT partner and Director Coulson is planning on handing over a lot of the operations planning to you while you recover."

May's head snapped around so fast she felt a sharp pain from her fractured cheek.

"Oh now you mustn't move like that," Simmons said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Try to rest."

"Coul…Coulson?" May whispered.

"Yes," Simmons said nonchalantly. "I believe he said something about how you were better at planning ops than he is anyway."

"Alive?"

Simmons looked at her sternly. "Yes you're alive. I heard Agent Hill telling Trip what you were saying when they found you and I want you to know that dying is simply not an option. You are very much alive and you will remain that way as long as I have anything to say about it."

May shook her head slightly and closed her eyes against the growing pain and panic. "No Coulson…Coulson is alive?"

Now Simmons just looked confused. "Yes of course," she said. "He's been here nearly the whole time you have. I made him leave to shower only a half hour ago. Shall I fetch him?"

May couldn't even bring herself to nod. Her breathing was becoming rapid and she could feel tears leaking from her eyes.

"Agent May," Simmons said, "please, please calm down. You're going to pull your stitches."

"Melinda?"

May's head whipped around to the door and she didn't even register Simmons' insistence that she stop moving so quickly. There he was in the doorway. Jacket gone, shirtsleeves rolled up and tie so loose it might as well not have been there. Then he was beside her, one hand grasping her uncast one and the other touching the uninjured side of her face. Neither noticed when Simmons slipped out of the room and prevented Skye and Trip from coming in after him.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm sorry it took us so long."

"You were dead," she replied. "Quinn said…blew the bus out of the sky."

"No," Coulson said. "They took you and flew off. We tried to follow but it took too long to get into the air. We lost track of you."

May stared at his face. There were dark circles under his eyes and he looked like he hadn't slept in days. Which was probably true. But he was still the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen.

"Quinn?" she asked, leaning back into the pillows, relishing the fact that his hand was still touching her face. "Raina?"

"Gone by the time we got there," Coulson said. "But I swear we're going to find them and then I'm going to shove Quinn off a cliff."

May looked up at him skeptically.

Coulson smiled, "Okay fine, I'll hold him on the edge of the cliff and you can kick him off."

She smiled back at him and closed her eyes, exhaustion seeping into her bones.

"Sleep Mel," Coulson said, stroking his thumb along her cheek. "I'll be here when you wake up."

May followed his instructions and drifted off to sleep.

XXXXXXXXXX

When she woke hours later he was asleep in the chair on the left side of her bed. His hand gently holding the fingers that stuck out of her cast. There was a sharpie laying on the bed next to her thigh and she shifted her arm slowly so as not to wake him.

On the outside of her cast he'd drawn two small butterflies.

**The End**

_Thanks for reading. The story is the Butterfly Lovers and is a Chinese folktale. The temple is also a real place._


End file.
